extortionate check-out fee on rental

Myrtle77

My landlord has decided to move back into the property that I rent, after only 7 months of my living here.

I've gotten used to the extortionate and often unexpected costs that Your Move keep dropping on me. But now I've received a letter saying that they'll take £114 from my security deposit to pay for the 'checkout fee'. This is basically to pay a 3rd party to come and check the inventory and condition of the house.

A fee is mentioned in the contract, although it doesn't say how much. I certainly didn't expect it to be this high. Plus, are they able to take this from my security deposit? Surely that's not what the deposit is for?!

Thanks for any advice.

G_M

When the deposit scheme contacts you to say the LL/agent has requested a deduction from the deposit for this, raise a dispute. You will win at arbitration.

Manual_Reversion

Being asked to pay for a checkout inventory (as tenant) is pretty standard practice as far as I can see; as to whether it's a moral or just payment is a completely different argument...

£114 is steep (London?). I've paid £50-odd for the same, in the south east.

No doubt they dropped the good-old "renewal AST" fee on you too, after the initial six months?

They can't take money from your deposit though. Do you have evidence that your deposit is protected? If it is then you will have nothing to worry about. Just give the place back to the Landlord in the same condition as the check-in inventory states and you're fine.

Letting agents are unregulated. Often they don't know the law and will try to screw you out of every penny. The best thing you can do is arm yourself with knowledge of your rights as a tenant, and assert them.

Myrtle77

Shockingly it's Devon, not London. And they're not some small letting agent, it's Your Move.

And you're right, they did try and drop the contract renewal fee on me - I rejected it. Although it's bitten me on the bum now that the landlord wants to move back in!

ifonlyitwaseasier

how long was your ast for? if its 12 months the landlord can't get you to move out yet.

FTBFun

Myrtle77 wrote: »

My landlord has decided to move back into the property that I rent, after only 7 months of my living here.

I'm surprised only one person picked up on this. Did you have a 6 month AST or a 12 month with a break clause?

westv

FTBFun wrote: »

I'm surprised only one person picked up on this. Did you have a 6 month AST or a 12 month with a break clause?

Must have been 6 months as the OP goes on to mention a tenancy renewal fee later on in the thread.

BitterAndTwisted

It's quite normal for the outgoing tenant to be charged a check-out fee if they haven't paid for the check-in. That £114 fee is quite steep but if they're going to contract an outside party they will most probably be charging some kind of mark-up on it.

I'm assuming that your deposit has been protected in one of the three deposit-protection schemes and that there was a dual-signed inventory when you moved into the property. In any case, if you think the charge is excessive contest the deduction when they notify you that they intend to make it.

ElleR

As the people above said, a check-out fee is normal. We had ours taken out our deposit just to save an extra money transfer. So if you're going to be paying it anyway then it doesn't make a difference whether it comes out your deposit or your pocket, which in the end is the same thing. I would question why it costs so much and maybe pop into some other letting agents and see how they do things/what they charge. If you didn't pay a check-in fee then it might be combining the 2.

BitterAndTwisted

There is no reason that I can think of why a tenant should be charged both the check-in and the check-out fee. This would mean that two parties are paying both of the same charges. Nice little earner for the agent and absolutely not fair to either set of tenants.

I wonder if there could be any reason not to send a pal round to the agents as a "mystery shopper" and have them disclose what the check-out fee would be.

Manual_Reversion

If the LA can legitimately take the check-out fee from the deposit then you're a bit snookered if you refuse to pay.

Might be worth contacting whoever is holding your deposit, but I seem to remember that with previous tenancies the LA has always handed our deposit back, and we've never dealt with the deposit holding company directly.

Best plan might be to buy somewhere so we never have to deal with these people again.